PaRappa The Rapper Remastered Review!

Before Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution dominated the Rhythm game scene there was the innovator, PaRappa the Rapper. In honor of the 20th anniversary on Dec. 6, Sony announced a remaster of the original title! PaRappa The Rapper was originally released on PlayStation in the U.S. on November 17, 1997 and There were no games at the time that could be compared to it. With the combined minds of music producer Masaya Matsuura and artist Rodney Greenblat, they were able to make a kick-ass game that was truly original and helped the PlayStation launch into people's homes. Though our rapping dog had a short lived franchise, he still lives through all the memories that kids (now adults) have of plaything this title back in the day. They released a demo but I held out on it and decided to patiently wait until April 4th and its finally here! Released only on the PSN for only $14.99 or $11.99 if you're a PS Plus member, it's a pretty good deal. I decided to set Persona 5 aside and give this a go, after all it won't take long.

The game centers around PaRappa the dog, who is trying to impress the love of his life; Sunny Funny. Along the way he goes though a few different scenarios. He trains at a Dojo, gets his driver's license, gets a job, and bakes a cake (which for some reason is the most difficult thing ever). While PaRappa is rapping with each guru, you have to press the button the cursor goes over at the top of the screen. With the guru busting one line; then you follow. There are six stages you have to go through in total. The fifth stage has you battle against your gurus for use of the toilet. The last you're taking the stage and impressing everyone with your raps! You gotta believe!

Is PaRappa The Rapper Remastered a faithful remaster that does the original justice? Yes. It has been revamped with hi-res textures and looks beautiful on the PlayStation 4. Every song in this game is awesome and while corny (like it was when released) it's still catchy as hell. I find myself quoting the songs "DO YOU KNOW WHY WE STOPPED THE CAR?" It's upbeat and lively. There are a few gripes I have with this remaster though. One being the cut-scenes between each stage. They're ripped straight from the original with no changes which is upsetting. I don't see why couldn't improve those too? It's not a huge deal but I felt it was a little weird they didn't bother update them. The other issue is the ridiculous amount of rage this game produces. There is still input lag from what I heard was an issue with the original. Maybe it's just my monitor but It would've made sense to add a calibration setting to fix these issues but clearly they didn't think that was needed. I was stuck on the Cheap Cheap Chicken stage for quite some time. There's no way my rhythm is that bad. I know its not. As one of our regulars was in the shop he was watching me hit everything spot on, but it would drop my "good" to "bad" and then finally to "awful" and failing the level. This Chicken is garbage and I hate her with every fiber of my being. After rage quitting, the next day though I decided to just spam each button and that seemed to work. That damn chicken wasn't going to beat me again. I wouldn't allow it. She had some good rhymes though, now the song is stuck in my head. I ended up doing that for the rest of the game and it worked perfectly. It's definitely a product of its time as it just oozes 90's. It's fantastic. Except the chicken. The chicken is not fantastic. She says in the beginning of her song "Everyday stress comes in every way" this level was the pinnacle of stress. I hate it. I hate it so, so much. Thank god it's over.

The best thing about this remaster is aside from the timing issues and even though it has been 20 years, it still feels fresh. Other than it's sequel and spin-off UmJammer Lammy, PaRappa the Rapper is still a game that's unique. You don't see many rhythm games like this. It has this charm to it that leaves you wanting more. While I would have preferred a third entry in the series instead of this remaster; maybe this is a way to see if there's still interest in this franchise? After him being in PlayStation All-Stars I was hoping for some type of game including PaRappa. I'm glad we were able to get something and who knows? Maybe if this remaster sells well we might see an official sequel in the future. They could do a lot with a new PaRappa, they could collaborate with a few artists and have them help with writing new songs! Though PaRappa the Rapper Remaster made me rage, it's a refreshing blast from the past.